viburnum choices

I have just ordered these Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur' and Viburnum nudum 'Brandywine' but wish to add a couple more that have good fall color, good winter berries for the birds and fragrance. Patti

Hi Patti,

You couldn't pick a better genus of plants for "good fall color, good winter berries for the birds and fragrance" than viburnums.

As for the V. nudums, you've done those. "Winterthur" and "Brandywine" are good partners, and will give you great fall color and interesting and beautiful berries. Furthermore, if you desire more plants in the future, simply pick and clean the seeds, put in containers and leave outdoors all winter, and, voila, next spring you'll have hundreds.

For fragrance: V. x juddii is my hands down favorite. Good form, foliage, and exceptional fragrance. The x burkwood hybrids are okay too, darker, glossier foliage, in general weaker fragrance, although "Mohawk" gives x juddii a run for the money. The V. carlesii cultivars, like "Cuyuga" are also good. None of these fragrant viburnums are award winners in the fruit department--as far as viburnums go--but they exceed most other shrubs. The "early" fragrant viburnums, V. farreri, V. x bodnantense, I have less experience with and will cede the floor to a certain viburnum expert in residence here. Likewise, I haven't grown V. x carlecephalum, which I believe is supposed to be a good plant.

The V. plicatum tomentosum group is an exceptional group of shrubs. Not fragrant, but good fall color and (if two different cultivars are planted which bloom at the same time) good fruit displays which are held on bright red pedicels. "Shasta" is big and wide with pronounced horizontal branching. "Shoshoni" is a miniature "Shasta." "Watanabe" and "Summer Snowflake" are the same plant; it grows tall. "Newport" is a perfect, almost formal dome. "Mariesii" is sort of like "Shasta" but with a more ascending branch pattern. This group is deer-proof.

I'll leave the dentatums to VV.

The dilitatums are awesome for fruit and fall color, but I have heard reports that they might be invasive in the east. Something to check out. But this group, otherwise, is killer.

The next viburnums are a group of closely related plants that are very much alike. V. opulus, trilobum, and sargentii. All from different continents, but very similar. Great fruit displays, good foliage, can become large plants but compact cultivars exist. The native is V. trilobum and I would tend to focus on that, because, again, there have been reports of the others becoming invasive in the NE. Another native, also related, is V. acerifolium. I'm not sure the latter will pollinate the former. Like all viburnums, best fruiting is achieved by having two different cultivars or seedlings of the same species (or very closely related species) in close proximity and in bloom at the same time. I think V. setigerum, which is a seldom used but very bountiful and beautiful viburnum belongs to this group also. Fruits are large, juicy, and very colorful on all plants in this group.

There are the big, landscape viburnums such as x rhytidophylloides and V. rhytidophyllum, but these are more functional, "hide the landfill" types of viburnums and probably less beautiful "good fruit, color, and fragrance" types that you're desiring.

I'll leave V. lentago, V. rafinesquianum, V. rufidulum, and others to those who've actually grown them. Hope this helps.

scott

Decumbent, That was a most helpful reply. I will get a V. x juddi and a Mohawk as well as the Shasta and a Summer Snowflake. I have a carlesii and a trilobum and what is thought by some on this forum to be a sieboldii and lentago and a few others that I will photograph to get a future id on. I am going to read more on Viburnum prunifolium Blackhaw as that one appeals in print to me. I have cleared a wonderful spot for them over the last couple of years, so now is the time to get planting. Thanks so much. Patti

Hi - I am currently selecting trees for my yard -- virburnum carlessii "compactum" was suggested at first for two locations in my yard. When I visted the nursery I was impressed by the Juddii and agreed to switch. Then I realized I was supposed to get the "compact" version. Is there really a big difference? Can I trim this to keep it "smaller"?

bbrookrd, do you mind telling where you ordered them from? I've been having a heck of a time finding one place that has something else to go along with with either winterthur or blue muffin. Looking for ones on the smaller size. Thanks.

Pelletory, I ordered them from http://www.avantgardensne.com/ and they sent me a confirmation that they will be arriving this week. I ordered some others from Bluestone. Patti

Classic Viburnums has more of these shrubs than you could ever plant. Take a gander at their selection by contacting them here:

http://gardens.com/go/view/4006/

You may wish you hadn't...

VV and Scott, I got my Viburnum 'Brandywine' and 'Winterthur', plus a bonus plant of a Viburnum opulus 'Aureus' today. I will plant them tomorrow if this wind lays down. It would desiccate anything in a minute, if I planted now. I have recently planted a 'Mohawk' and I have ordered a 'Redwing' and a 'Shasta'. I still want 'Juddii' and maybe 'Summer Snowflake', but those can wait until fall. I also ordered a Clethra barbinervis, a Lespedeza'Avalanche' , spirea 'ogon' which has a nice willow like golden leaf and a gold Acanthus. Nice haul. Very nice shipment from Avant in Dartmouth Ma. Thank you for your help. The picture is of the now little, but use to be big before it was leveled by an ice storm, Viburnum opulus. But I don't know which one. European or American? Patti

I defer to more northerly knowledge for those two species. Neither do particularly well in the heat and humidity of the Ohio River valley (though I've got some outplanted to torture).

Besides that, Viburnum trilobum and Viburnum opulus are notoriously difficult to differentiate. Some call them circumpolar similes (along with the Asian origin Viburnum sargentii), and lump them all under Opulus.

Gather some more pictures as the leaves mature, flowers open and get fertilized, and of the fruit. Whole plant is nice too. I still may not be able to help, but others might.

Hope your V. nudum do well. Those are grand.

I just got what I was told are female and male plants, that you need the male for the female to get berries -
female- Ilex verticillata "winter red"
male- virbunum nudum "smooth withe-rod"

Can anyone tell me what to expect, and what the male produces (berries, flowers, etc?) and also how big the male will get? The nursery man told me the female would grow to 8ft tall by 8ft wide, but slowly - what does slowly mean? 2 inches a year?

Thanks so much!!!

You need your male and female to be from at least the same genus in order to get berries--I don't think a female Ilex and male Viburnum are going to do you much good. They're not even in the same family so I don't think there's any way they could possibly pollinate each other.

Well, that is interesting to hear, because the vendor sold me both plants saying that the one was the male, the other the female - I did think it odd that the names were so different - now I am just a little angry.

Is it too late to take them back? He was right that one's male and one's female, but unfortunately they also need to be related to each other. Could have been an innocent mistake, maybe he thought he was grabbing a second viburnum? I'd go back and explain what happened, and see if they can exchange the one plant.

Well, i bought them at a plant show/garden fair in Delaware. The vendor is in Pennsylvania, about an hour away, so that wouldn't exactly be convenient....yes, I realize it could have been an honest mistake, or the wrong plant was in with the group of the ones that I needed. I have the name of the company, I will call tomorrow and see what they can do about it. Possibly they will send me the right male plant, but now I have this kinda plain looking "wrong" male, what am I supposed to do with that...I will have to go out and buy a female of that variety. All I wanted was one berry bush, I figured fine if I needed the male, I could live with two....now when all is said and done, I will have four! I guess I could dig it up (the wrong male) and send it back to them, but I don't think I should have to pay for that.

Rats! Oh well, it is a major inconvenience, but not the end of the world, right? Thanks for your advice.

Bhavana34,

The Ilex come in male and female, and the male pollinator is necessary for the female to produce any berries.

The viburnum, OTOH, is not strictly male/female. A pollinator is required, however, and so it won't produce the berries without another plant nearby, same or related genus. Getting another variety of Viburnum nudum guarantees fruit, as they will almost always flower at the same time...both varieties of the plants will then produce fruit. Sometimes viburnums will pollinate across species, but they have to be flowering at the same time.

When he sold you the Viburnum, did he tell you if it was a species or a named variety? I find that most V nudum that are offered are 'Winterthur.' If you got 'Winterthur' without knowing it, and you get another one, you'll have no berries.

You might just plant out both specimens and see what happens. Who knows, maybe there is another Ilex or Viburnum two houses down, and you might just get the pollination that way.

SB

No, he didn't tell me much about the viburnum, just that it was the male plant that would pollinate the Ilex verticillata. The tag clearly said viburnum nudum smooth-withe rod.

I hadn't thought that there may be others in my neighborhood that would take care of the pollination. I haven't seen any, but its any older neighborhood and it is likely to be here somewhere, hopefully close by. Do you know how the pollination happens?

Thanks for the responses....

Mainlty bees, I think.